Trump asks Garland to block Jack Smith from releasing final report

President-elect Trump and his two co-defendants in the classified documents case are working to block special counsel Jack Smith from releasing his final report that would review the documents as well as Trump’s efforts to block the transfer of power after the 2020 election.

The motion — filed late Monday, the fourth anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol — asks Judge Aileen Cannon to bar Smith from his plans to release his two volume report.

An accompanying letter from Trump’s legal team to Attorney General Merrick Garland reveals they have already reviewed a draft of the report, asking Garland to fire Smith and leave the decision of whether to release the report to the president-elect's incoming attorney general.

While Trump’s efforts are directed at Smith, it is Garland who makes the ultimate call on whether to release the report.

Attorneys for Trump’s two co-defendants in the Mar-a-Lago case, valet Walt Nauta and property manager Carlos de Oliveira, rely on a ruling from Cannon that found Smith was unlawfully appointed in asking her to block the report’s release.

“The Final Report relies on materials to which Smith, as disqualified special counsel, is no longer entitled access — making his attempt to share such materials with the public highly improper,” they wrote

Smith’s team responded with an early Tuesday morning filing, pledging an additional response by 7 p.m.

“The Department can commit that the Attorney General will not release that volume to the public, if he does at all, before Friday, January 10, 2025, at 10:00 a.m.,” Smith’s team wrote, the same day Trump is set to be sentenced in his New York hush money case.

Smith’s team has appealed the ruling from Cannon that tossed the case against the three men — bucking 50 years of precedent regarding special counsel law in determining Smith was not lawfully appointed.

But because the case is still resting before the 11th Circuit, it’s unclear whether Cannon has the power to take action in the case.

While Smith’s team has withdrawn charges against Trump, citing Justice Department policy against bringing criminal charges against a sitting president, the case remains ongoing for the two other defendants.

“The Draft Report violates fundamental norms regarding the presumption of innocence, including with respect to third parties unnecessarily impugned by Smith’s false claims. Releasing the report to the public without significant redactions (that would render its release meaningless) would violate prohibitions on extrajudicial statements by prosecutors,” Trump’s team wrote in the letter to Garland.

“This is particularly problematic with respect to ongoing proceedings relating to Waltine Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, as well as others who Smith and his staff falsely characterize as co-conspirators in the Draft Report," they added.

While Trump is opposed to the release of the report, his critics see it as an important form of accountability after his cases were stymied by his electoral victory. It’s a dynamic that was aided by multiple challenges from Trump and Supreme Court consideration of his immunity challenge that further stalled the case.

The letter to Garland reveals a few details about Smith’s report, including that it contains information about “anticipated members of President Trump’s incoming administration,” something Trump’s team complains could hinder their confirmation process.

It otherwise appears to mirror language already included in Smith’s indictments of Trump.

“Volume I of the Draft Report falsely asserts, without any jury determination, that President Trump and others ‘engaged in an unprecedented criminal effort,’ was ‘the head of the criminal conspiracies,' and harbored a ‘criminal design,’” Trump’s legal team wrote in the letter.

“Likewise, Volume II asserts, without any supporting verdict, ‘that Mr. Trump violated multiple federal criminal laws,’ and that he and others engaged in ‘criminal conduct.’”

Updated at 9:17 a.m.